BATON ROUGE – LSU's longest winning streak this season in Southeastern Conference play is three games. Then again, its longest losing streak in the league is only two games.

The Tigers (19-8, 8-6 SEC) have followed their last three wins with losses. They won their last game, 70-63, over Florida on Saturday and have a chance to reverse that trend Tuesday night when they face struggling Auburn (12-15, 4-10 SEC) at 6 p.m. on the road. LSU will be after its first two-game winning streak since January against a team that is tied for second to last in the SEC and is a lowly 132 in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI). But do not mark this one in the win column just yet. LSU inexplicably lost to Auburn at home by 81-77 on Feb. 5.

"We need to be more consistent," LSU forward Jarell Martin said after scoring a career-high 28 points with a memorable, through-the-legs slam dunk in the win over the Gators on Saturday. "We need to win a few games in a row here and improve our standing."

An impressive, 73-55 win over Tennessee on Feb. 14 followed a more impressive, 71-69 loss to No. 1 Kentucky four days previously, but the Tigers followed that by blowing a lead late at Texas A&M and falling 68-62.

"We've been too up and down," Martin said.

Should the Tigers, who are at No. 54 in the RPI, get by Auburn, they will have a chance for a four-game winning streak heading into the SEC regular season finale at surging Arkansas (22-5, 11-3 SEC). Following Auburn, LSU hosts Ole Miss (19-8, 10-4), which it beat on the road in January, and Tennessee (14-12, 6-8) again.

"Stick with us," LSU guard Keith Hornsby pleaded after the Florida win. "Stay with us. These last four games we have left — keep supporting us in them. We're trying to finish 4-0."

The last time LSU won four straight SEC games in the same season was in 2012. If LSU is to get to 2-0, it will have to play better defense than it did against Auburn last time.

"We gave up 81 points at home, and we have to make sure we do a much better job on the defensive end of the floor," LSU coach Johnny Jones said Monday morning before leaving for Auburn. "We have to finish plays. We have to do that throughout, especially on the defensive glass. We have to do what we call gang rebounding. If we do that at a great rate, we will have a good chance."